Why Do Celebrity Girlfriends Get So Much Hate?

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Imagine for a second that you just found out your ~dreamy~ high school crush who’s never acknowledged your existence — let’s call him Justin, just for kicks — started going out with a girl from another school whom you’ve never met before — we’ll call her Sofia. Is your first reaction to threaten to kill Sofia?

No, because you’re not a psychopath.

Scarily enough, though, this has been the exact approach some celebrities’ die-hard fans are taking when they find out said celebrities have new girlfriends.

Remember a few weeks ago when Justin Bieber posted a series of photos of himself with his new flame, 17-year-old Sofia Richie, then ended up deleting his Instagram when the hate toward her escalated into death threats?

Or earlier this spring, when Louis Tomlinson’s (now-ex) girlfriend Briana Jungwirth became pregnant with his child, and people FREAKED — a fan even threatened to kill the baby!

Or even back in 2014-15, when people tweeted things like "I’ll kill ugly, black black black” and "It feels to be an ugly monkey sh*t b*tch" at singer FKA Twigs just because she dated actor Robert Pattinson?

Not that we shouldn’t also feel sorry for the celebrity boyfriends who are feeling the abuse’s aftershock, but honestly, how long until the “If I Can’t Have Him, No One Can!” mentality of these tight-knit communities evolves into a physical attack on someone? What’s the deal with celebrity girlfriends getting so much hate on social media for, well, simply existing?

Considering everything else that women are being shamed for daily — what they do and don’t wear, what they eat and how they eat it, how they do or don't speak up, you name it — it’s frankly obnoxious that women can’t even date someone without being afraid for their own lives.

I mean, yeah, it’s pretty cool that Instagram and Twitter give us intimate looks at some of our favorite stars’ personal lives — and, yeah, it would be freaking cool to experience the trips around the world, expensive gifts, red carpet appearances, etc. that come along with dating a celebrity.

But if you’re so engrossed in the life of a stranger, if you feel so aggressively possessive about them that you need to make anonymous (read: cowardly) threats to eliminate anyone else who wanders into their lives, maybe it’s time to log off and get a hobby. There are far more important things to get hyped up about these days.